Web Development

Developers Get "Locked Down" HTML5 Specification From W3C

Developers not focused on holiday festivities at the end of December may have noticed that a stable framework specification of the HTML5 web markup language has been laid down.

Put in place by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as part of its HTML5 overseeing role, the specification is said to be good for the "next several" years. Version HTML 5.1 is now a working draft as well.

NOTE: Though not yet W3C standards, the specification is now described as "feature complete", meaning businesses and developers have (according to the W3C) a "stable target" for implementation and planning.

The future HTML 5.1 specification is currently being engineered to support improved web video performance, a development that is backed by both the W3C and television industry firms. Alongside this, the first draft of the Canvas 2D Level 2 drawing API was also announced.

W3C CEO Jeff Jaffe said that as of now, developers will know what skills to cultivate to reach smart phones, cars, televisions, ebooks, digital signs and, as he puts it, "devices not yet known" as they are created.

Kendo UI, a division of Telerik, surveyed over 4,000 software developers worldwide in the period between September 5th and September 26th of 2012 regarding their usage, attitudes, and expectations surrounding HTML5 and its adoption for development initiatives.

The majority of developers surveyed by Kendo UI (82%) believe that HTML5 will be important to their job within the next 12 months. This is a finding that contradicts other reports, such as the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies (2012), which suggests that we will see widespread HTML5 adoption 5 to 10 years in the future.

The W3C says that its goal is "not just interoperability across browsers" at this time with HTML5, but also across devices used.

According to official statements from w3c.org, to reduce browser fragmentation and extend implementations to the full range of tools that consume and produce HTML, W3C now embarks on the stage of W3C standardization devoted to interoperability and testing (called "Candidate Recommendation").

"During this stage, the W3C HTML Working Group will conduct a variety of activities to ensure that the specifications may be implemented compatibly across browsers, authoring tools, email clients, servers, content management systems, and other web tools. The group will analyze current HTML5 implementations, establish priorities for test development, and work with the community to develop those tests. The HTML Working Group has planned for this implementation phase to last into mid-2014, after which W3C expects to publish the final HTML5 Recommendation, available Royalty-Free to implementers under the W3C Patent Policy."

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